By Flo Selfman | May 07, 2009
It’s a Westside story: Santa Monica-based journalist Hank Rosenfeld met then-87-year-old screenwriter Irving Brecher and it became “Tuesdays with Morrie” meets “Krapp’s Last Tape” — with a giant dose of humor. The result: the moving and mirthful book, “The Wicked Wit of the West.” That’s the nickname given to young Brecher by Groucho Marx himself.
When Hank met Irv, he had a million questions. What was it like to be the only man ever to write two Marx Brothers movies by himself? To be the last of the great MGM roundtable of screenwriters? To be the famous unknown who wrote vaudeville and radio shows for Milton Berle, punched up dialog in “The Wizard of Oz,” and created “The Life of Riley”– on radio, in the movies, and as the very first television sitcom! Once Hank met Irv, questions like these dogged him. And Hank dogged Irv. He couldn’t get enough of Irv’s rapid-fire patter and acid wit. This book is the product of seven years of Hank’s tagging along with Irv, splitting pastrami sandwiches at delis all over Los Angeles, and recording Irv’s every word.
Who was Irving Brecher? Irv convinced Judy Garland to star in “Meet Me in St. Louis,” wrote “Bye Bye Birdie,” and gave Jackie Gleason his first TV series and a new set of teeth. The “Wicked Wit of the West” tells juicy tales about Hollywood legends John Wayne, L.B. Mayer, Jack Benny, George Burns, Ann-Margret, Ernie Kovacs, Cleo the basset hound, and of course, Groucho, Harpo and Chico.
Irving Brecher died last November, two months before his 95th birthday. His career went from vaudeville to the Internet age — he recorded a UTube video protesting the writers strike in 2007.
Brecher lived in Brentwood and Westwood, where his lovely wife Norma still resides. Rosenfeld is a Santa Monica resident.
“The Wicked Wit of the West: The last great Golden Age screenwriter shares the hilarity and heartaches of working with Groucho, Garland, Gleason, Burns, Berle, Benny & many more” is available at Village Books (Palisades), amazon.com, barnesandnoble.com, and where funnier books are sold.
The Aero Theatre held an Irving Brecher night in 2007. They will do it again, this time just with co-author Rosenfeld, on June 11. They’ll screen the last film Brecher wrote, “Bye Bye Birdie.”
